DESCRIPTION OF THE MODERN PIANOFORTE.
The pianoforte of to-day is the most complex and ingenious of musical
instruments. With the possible exception of the pipe-organ, there is
no existing tone apparatus that combines within itself the product
of so many varied industries. Both as to the raw material and the
finished parts, this instrument draws its tonal charm, in the ultimate
analysis, as much from the saw-mill, the machine shop and the iron
foundry as from the forest and the mine. Trees of the forest, ore
from the mines--even the wooly coats of the peaceful sheep--alike
contribute their share to the completion of the wonderful product of
musico-mechanical ingenuity that we recognize in the modern pianoforte.
In such circumstances as these, it is easy to understand that the
commercial production of these instruments is a formidable undertaking.
To the musical and technical skill that is essential must now be added
large capital and a great manufacturing plant. The moderate prices
at which it is at present possible to sell pianofortes would not be
maintained for a moment without this modern system of productive
concentration and distributive expansion. The application of such
business systems to the production of an essentially artistic structure
has had the double effect of cheapening the selling price and improving
the quality.
This is not the place to go into details of the organization of a
modern pianoforte factory, but we may very properly devote some
moments to a consideration of the main points of construction that are
observable in the pianofortes of the day. Critical analysis of these
points will be in order later on in the course of the present work. For
the moment we shall be content with obtaining a bird’s-eye view, as it
were, of that which we are later to dissect and criticise.
There are to-day two distinct and prevailing types of pianoforte.
These are the “upright” and the “grand.” Of the once popular “square”
it is unnecessary here to do more than say that the type has passed
into a state of obsolescence and is fast dying out. Both structurally
and tonally, it was most defective; and its popularity was due rather
to the imperfect development of the other types during the period of
its vogue than to any inherent advantages of its own. It has well and
faithfully served its appointed time, and we may properly leave it to
die in peace.
For the last thirty years in this country and for considerably longer
in Europe, the upright, succeeding the square as a home instrument, has
remained victorious. Its small size and great convenience, together
with the surprising tonal capacity that has been developed in it in the
United States, have universally commended it, and only the development
of the very small grand has lately seemed to be threatening its long
unchallenged supremacy.
The exterior form of an upright is familiar to all. If we strip from it
all the outer appendages, and then remove the action and keys, we shall
at once see that the instrument consists essentially of a sound-board
and a frame, the latter partly wooden and partly metallic, upon which
are stretched strings of regularly graduated lengths and thicknesses.
Attached to this framing are two more or less ornate wooden erections
which are denominated the “sides” of the instrument, while a horizontal
wooden shelf, called the “key-bed,” serves to join the sides and
support the keys and their frame.
The strings of an upright are arranged vertically from the top to the
bottom of the framing already described, with the exception of those
which serve the bass notes. These are strung diagonally over the treble
strings. It will also be observed that the strings become progressively
shorter as the scale ascends until the speaking lengths at the highest
notes are two inches or less. The thickness also varies directly as the
length. The material of which the strings are made is cast-steel wire,
and the overstrung bass strings are, in addition, covered with copper
or iron wire. These strings, in order that they may be maintained at
the proper tensions and in the correct positions, must be supported
by suitable framing. The demands of modern construction require that
the framing be most massive. We have already cast a hurried glance at
it, and may now proceed to describe it in more detail. First of all,
however, it is necessary to investigate the apparatus that amplifies
the sound waves projected from the strings and transforms them into
the pleasing tones of the pianoforte. We must, in short, examine the
sound-board.
We shall have occasion later, critically to examine and discuss the
resonance apparatus of the pianoforte. It is sufficient, therefore,
that we glance briefly at it here, so as to familiarize ourselves
with its general form and construction. The sound-board is usually
constructed of a sheet of spruce fir of varying thickness and arched
inwards towards the strings, the crown of the arch being at its middle
portion. It carries wooden bridges, over which pass the strings and
upon which the vibrations of these strings are impressed and which
serve to limit their speaking lengths. The side of the sound-board,
remote from the strings, is strengthened by the addition of a series of
strips of hard wood called “ribs,” which are tightly glued on to it.
All of this apparatus is fitted into a wooden frame technically called
the “back.” It consists of two horizontal beams, situated at the
top and bottom of the instrument and joined together with a number
of vertical wooden posts of great strength. Into this structure the
sound-board is secured in such a manner as to produce the arched shape
above described, and in such a manner also as to leave nearly the whole
of its surface free to vibrate. The top beam of the back is covered
with the “wrest-plank,” a wooden block built up of crossed strips of
hard maple into which are driven the tuning pins, or “wrest-pins” as
they used to be called.
The whole structure is then covered by the “iron plate,” which is a
massive affair cast in one piece and bolted all round to the sides of
the sound-board and back, and to the wrest plank at the top and the
bottom beam at the bottom. This plate contains the “hitch-pins,” over
which are looped the waste ends of the strings, and also the iron
bridge, which limits the upper extension of their speaking lengths.
The strings are arranged upon this elaborate foundation, looped over
the hitch-pins, passed over the sound-board--or “belly”--bridges, and
thence through the bearing-bar, up to the tuning-pins.
To the sides of this structure are glued the external walls. A wooden
bed for the keys is provided, and the action is secured partly to the
iron plate and partly to the key-bed. The pedals are placed upon the
bottom board, which is secured between the external walls or sides,
and the pedals are connected with the proper parts of the action. When
this has been done the construction of the instrument is essentially
completed.
The various kinds of upright pianoforte do not vary greatly in size.
In the United States the popular sizes vary between the extremes of
four feet ten inches and four feet in height, with sufficient width
to accommodate the eighty-eight notes that make up the modern compass
of seven octaves and a minor third. The multitude of different scale
arrangements need not be discussed here at all, nor is it necessary to
enter into any investigation of the various individual arrangements
and devices that different manufacturers fit to their instruments. All
these things will be treated in their proper order.
The grand pianoforte has always been the favorite of the composer and
the interpretative artist. In this type alone has it been possible to
combine the highest qualities of tonal beauty and mechanical ingenuity.
To-day the concert grands of our most eminent makers stand unsurpassed,
both as mechanical structures and as musical instruments.
The most obvious dissimilarity between the grand and the upright is,
of course, seen in the difference of their planes. The grand might
properly be called the horizontal pianoforte. Its strings are stretched
parallel to the plane of the floor and the hammers strike upwards at
them from below. The second conspicuous difference is in the function
of the exterior casing. We have already noted that this part of the
upright is chiefly required to complete the exterior ornamentation of
the structure, and secondarily to support the keys and action. The case
of the grand, on the other hand, is an essential part of the resonant
body of the instrument. It consists of a rim, bent to suitable shape
and built up of continuous veneers, running all round in one piece and
glued together at crossed grain until the desired number of layers and
the proper thickness are thus obtained. The whole of what corresponds
to the upright back framing, as well as the sound-board and iron plate,
are rigidly built into this continuous bent rim, and thus the whole
structure forms one complete resonant entity, entirely unified and
interdependent. The rim is made deep enough to permit of the insertion
of action and keys in the front portion, and a gap in the framing is
left for the hammers to strike upwards at the strings. The wrest-plank
is placed on one side of the gap and the sound-board occupies the
remainder of the space on the other side. The iron plate covers the
entire structure, wrest-plank included, and sustains the same relations
to the instrument as in the upright. Its shape, as also that of the
sound-board, is adapted to the peculiar outline of the grand, which
is so aptly implied in the word “fluegel” (wing), used in Germany to
designate the entire grand type.
Until a comparatively recent period the large concert size grand was
practically the only type of these instruments. The revolutionary
improvements initiated by the Steinways in the middle of the nineteenth
century paved the way, however, for the general introduction of smaller
styles. It was found possible to retain the characteristically full and
rich tone of the large grand--at least to a great extent--while its
inherent advantages in the matter of touch and action all combined to
assure the popularity of the smaller instrument among the more critical
and discriminating of the public. Doubtless, also, the remarkable
change in the housing of urban populations that has been so conspicuous
during the last twenty years had much to do with the general desire for
an instrument that should be less common than the ordinary upright and
that should at the same time be less cumbersome than the full-sized
grand. A powerful incentive was therefore given to manufacturers to
strive towards the perfecting of the small types, and we cannot deny
that they have succeeded in a remarkable manner.
It is true that there exists today a tendency to cut the size of these
small grands down to really impossible proportions. There is a limit
to the cutting down process; and it is apparent to the observer that
more than one maker is endeavoring to obtain a true grand tone from a
sound-board area and from string lengths that are such as entirely to
prohibit the attainment of this desirable goal. Of course, it may be
retorted that the term “true grand tone” is subject to variations of
definition. It may even be plausibly said that tone of any kind is too
intangible a thing to be limited by any definitions. Nevertheless, it
would seem that there is a very decided limit, and that when we arrive
at the point where it is no longer possible to obtain the fullness,
richness and volume of tone that we are accustomed to accept as the
distinguishing characteristic of the grand pianoforte, then, indeed, we
no longer have a true grand. Other instruments may have the outline and
the action of a grand, but if they have not the proper sound-board area
and string length, then they are merely (if we may perpetrate a bull)
“horizontal uprights.”
The very general description that we have thus given of the two
prevailing types of pianoforte has not been intended to serve as
more than what it so obviously is--a rapid bird’s-eye view of the
instruments as they appear to the casual observer. The reader may thus
prepare himself for the more definite and critical investigation that
is now about to be begun.